Mexico Trip - Day 8

Today began much like most of the other. Breakfast at 8, then time for devotions, then it was off to work. The tasks for the day were loading block to the second floor, finishing the “garage” room floor with concrete, finishing the sewer hookup to the sanctuary, finishing the concrete in the new restroom, and miscellaneous other jobs.

The team broke into groups at 9, and I was assigned the task of finishing the floor prep for the garage. We had a lot of dirt to move, and little time to get it done. By 11 we expected the concrete to begin getting laid. Just like every other group, Chris, Eli and myself got to work. It was intensive labor, but sure enough we got it done. As we were finishing, the block crew had over 80 block left to move. I told them that if they could move 8 blocks a minute, they could be finished in 10 minutes. They were up for the challenge. In just 10 minutes, they accomplished the final blocks being moved to the second floor.

That was not our final challenge for the day however. During lunch, I challenged the concrete laying crew to finish the garage in 2 hours. Most of them said it could not be done. We had to mix the concrete by hand, shoveling 6 buckets of sand, 5 buckets of rock, and a bag of concrete on a tarp laid on the ground. The sand and rock had to be brought in by wheelbarrow from about 50 yards away. They got to work, and in just over 1 hour and 45 minutes, they accomplished the goal! 2 challenges in one day – way to go team.

By the day's end, we had finished much of the work that was needed for the day, but there was still much to do on Wednesday.

We topped off the evening with a trip to the soccer field and a walk to the store. We had dinner around 8 o'clock, and devotions around 9. The evening ended with a game of Rage, which Keli was winning all the way to the last hand when she (being 5th to lay her card) bid 1. Not a good call, and so I had to end up winning. It was painful, but I enjoyed winning. :-)